Lack of funds forces Sobriety High to shut down

BURNSVILLE, Minn. - It's a telling sign when a school has to hold a fundraiser just to have a prom.

It leads to a sad fact of life for the students of Sobriety High that this will be the last prom they have to raise money for, as this is the final school year at both the Coon Rapids and Burnsville campuses.

"It's not by our choice it's by a lack of financial support at this point," said Paul McGlynn, executive director of Sobriety High.

For 22 years Sobriety High has been the answer for teens when they leave treatment for addiction and they know they can't face traditional high school hallways where the temptations to use are just too great.

"When I started using I was like 12 years old," said student Maddy Amos.

Amos has been clean now for years, thanks to the Coon Rapids Campus, Arona High.

"I don't know where I would be without this place," said Amos. "I would probably be dead without going here, and this place means the world to me."

The school lost its main donation source this year. Because the school can't come up with the $400,000 a year it needs to operate, it has to close both of its campuses. That means 70 or so students will have to move on either to the other sober high school in the metro, or try an alternative high school that has a treatment focus.

It's not a choice any of them are looking forward to. To many, this little haven has been life saving and life changing.

"When I came here I was getting mostly D's and F's, and now I have a 3.0," explained student Mikayla.

That's a story we heard time after time, in student after student. This little school you never heard of made changes of the highest grade there is.

School officials say they're often told by parents that the school saved their child's life.

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